After a period of discussion and voting, the Vietnam National Assembly officially approved the proposal to increase the base salary from 1.49 million VND to 1.8 million VND and also fixed the effective date of the policy. Thereby, Vietnam's base salary will officially increase to 1.8 million VND from July 2023, not January 2023 as many delegates suggested.

On the afternoon of November 11, 2022, the National Assembly voted to approve the state budget estimate for 2023 with nearly 91% of the delegates approving. One of the most important policies is the change in the base salary – the salary regime used as the basis for calculating the salary received for officials, civil servants, public employees, etc. in the salary tables, allowances, and other modes.

From July 1, 2023, the base salary will increase to VND 1.8 million. This salary compared to the current base salary of VND 1.49 million represents an increase of 20.8%. The strong increase in the base salary is the result of the delay of nearly 3 years during the Covid-19 pandemic and also shows the attitude of the Vietnamese state toward supporting and solving difficulties for groups of civil servants and public employees working in the state.

In addition, the approved state budget estimate for 2023 also mentions the increase of other social welfare regimes such as pensions, social insurance benefits, and those who retire before 1995 with an increase of 12,5%. In addition to the salary received by officials working in the Vietnamese government, social security policies associated with the base salary will also have an increase of 20.8% compared to the current one.

In particular, health workers – specific professions that are subject to many dangers and risks and have shown great merit in the past 2 years of the pandemic, receive low wages, not commensurate with their work. In the next year, starting from January 1, 2023, health workers will continue to receive a special allowance and income mechanism to compensate for their losses and efforts.

It is expected that the total expenditure on salary reform and pension adjustment, allowances, and social security policies in 2023 is 12,500 billion VND.

Why raise the base salary so late?

Before the National Assembly voted, many delegates as well as experts in the field of labor and finance expressed the opinion that the change in the base salary should start from January 1, 2023, not from July 2023.

This idea received a lot of support, especially among representatives of the health sector, education, and areas with a high proportion of workers in these two occupations. Because cadres and civil servants working in these two professions have suffered many disadvantages, leading to the rate of them quitting their jobs recently increasing to an alarming level.

In this regard, Chairman of the Legal Committee Hoang Thanh Tung explained that it is difficult for Vietnam to increase the base salary from the beginning of 2023 because this is the time close to the New Year and the Lunar New Year (just over 20 days after the New Year's Eve).

Mr. Tung reported to the National Assembly: "This is a sensitive time, the demand for purchasing goods and services of people and businesses increases sharply, creating pressure on price management due to the psychology of increasing price due to wage's increase, putting pressure on inflation control and affecting people's lives."

Thereby, partly to avoid the risk of explosion, rapidly increasing the level of inflation in Vietnam and many other reasons such as to give more time to adjust the base salary system, etc., the increase in base salary to VND 1.8 million will officially take effect from July 1, 2023.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.